I believe science teachers should blow something up in their classrooms every day (or online if the class can’t meet.)
I have taken more boring classes than I can remember. If there had been more than notes on a whiteboard (or worse, a chalkboard), I might have remembered more.
Of course, I went to school before YouTube and even before Bill Nye the Science Guy (Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!) I watched Mr. Wizard, and he was okay, in an old school way. (I can still remember him putting a powder on the water in an aquarium and then sticking his hand in the water but not getting wet. Cool.) Nowadays, there are a ton of awesome videos of both professionals and amateurs doing STEM experiments,
Mark Rober has been making awesome videos for a while, but his squirrel obstacle course brought him to my attention. If you haven’t seen this video yet, watch it now. Phantastic Gus is the best, but all the squirrels are amazing, and the science is so fun you won’t realize you are learning.
And that is how it should be. No one learns when they are bored. Using squirrels, watermelons, and dinosaurs to teach ideas is a way to get kids (and big kids) interested in science.
Below, I have included a few of Mark’s other videos. He has a lot more, so check out his YouTube channel. And most importantly, share these videos with your kids or grandkids and then let them make something themselves. It might not work the first time (as Mark often shows), but we don’t make it to the moon without first lighting a match.
World’s First Automatic Strike Bowling Ball
Drinking Nasty Swamp Water (to save the world)